Lightning ‘kills’ fisherman in Naga City

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CEBU CITY—A fisherman died after he was allegedly struck by lightning while fishing early Thursday in Naga City, 21.7 km south of Cebu City.

Police authorities identified the victim as Rolando Lim, 52, of Barangay (village) Central Poblacion, Naga City.

P01 Marlon Añabeza, desk officer of the Naga City Police Station, said some fishermen reported to the police that at 5:45 a.m., they noticed a stationary fishing boat, some 100 meters away from the seashore of Barangay Colon, Naga City.

When the fishermen went nearer to the fishing boat, they saw a man lying still face down and holding a fishing rod inside the boat, Anabeza said.

The responding policemen towed the boat towards the shore where they saw black marks on the body of the fisherman, who was later identified as Lim.

Lim was brought to the Minglanilla District Hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Añabeza said they are waiting for the family of Lim for the conduct of autopsy to find out the real cause of his death.

But initially, Añebeza said the other fishermen believed that Lim was hit by lightning during the heavy rain early Thursday at the southern part of Cebu.

Vangie Tolentino, weather forecaster of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration in Mactan, said the downpour and lightning early Thursday were caused by the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) over Mindanao and the cumulo-nimbus cloud or thunderstorm cloud.

Tolentino said the thunderstorm cloud early Thursday was very thick, which could have triggered the incident in Naga City.